Q17:

Tanco, a leather manufacturer, uses large quantities of common salt to preserve animal hides.  New environmental regulations have significantly increased the cost of disposing of salt water that results from this use, and, in consequence, Tanco is considering a plan to use potassium chloride in place of common salt.  Research has shown that Tanco could reprocess the by-product of potassium chloride use to yield a crop fertilizer, leaving a relatively small volume of waste for disposal.

In determining the impact on company profits of using potassium chloride in place of common salt, it would be important for Tanco to research all of the following EXCEPT:

1. What difference, if any, is there between the cost of the common salt needed to preserve a given quantity of animal hides and the cost of the potassium chloride needed to preserve the same quantity of hides?
2. To what extent is the equipment involved in preserving animal hides using common salt suitable for preserving animal hides using potassium chloride?
3. What environmental regulations, if any, constrain the disposal of the waste generated in reprocessing the by-product of potassium chloride?
4. How closely does leather that results when common salt is used to preserve hides resemble that which results when potassium chloride is used?
5. Are the chemical properties that make potassium chloride an effective means for preserving animal hides the same as those that make common salt an effective means for doing so?

答案是E，请教一下，D和E的分别是什么啊？怎么感觉都是在说用potassium chloride和salt对leather的效果呢？

D and E are different.

D determines whether leather processed by common salt resembles that processed by the potassium chloride. If the answer is NO, then leather processed by potassium chloride may not be favored by customers, hurting the company's profits.

E determines whether the two different materials rely on the same chemical properties to process leather. This, however, is irrelevant as long as they yield the same result.